


One Birthday and a Proposal

by pinkichor



Series: Seven and a Half Lives [4]
Category: GOT7
Genre: Birthday, Birthday Fluff, Comfort, Fluff, M/M, Marriage Proposal, NOT A KINKY WAY THO, Past Lives, Reincarnation, Whipped Cream, anyway, as always, cameos by the cats again, idk how to tag the rest, like that's a spoiler but
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 03:05:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13285644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkichor/pseuds/pinkichor
Summary: Jaebum just looked at him, puzzled. “So, let me get this straight.”Jinyoung was so clearly pleading for Jaebum to not say what he was about to.“I get your homemade seaweed soup, and then you’re the dessert?”





	One Birthday and a Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> yo guess who really did nothing during holiday break but meant to? it me, ur boi. and now classes have started again. i honestly meant to write the whip cream thing for xmas/new years installment and it would have been much different but it was meant to be this way i suppose. sO ANYWAY SPECIAL REQUEST From the Screaming Anon in my CC inbox who asked for jaebum's bday and how could i say No when it literally Just became his bday in my timezone 
> 
> unbetad and written after been up far too long so you do the math 
> 
> hope you Likey.mp3

Jaebum didn’t trust this one bit. He hadn’t trusted it from the very moment Jinyoung had told him he wouldn’t be allowed in the kitchen for a few  _ hours.  _ It was his birthday! And a fucking Saturday, which meant most of the places he probably would go to were already full and chaotic. He'd much rather something small in their cozy apartment, which they were doing. The morning was full of soft, sleepy kisses and warm hands, a lazy and late breakfast in the quiet of the living room. And then Jinyoung had a bright, wonderful idea--meaning he found a recipe on pinterest or tasty or some other awful site Jaebum had reasons for being wary of.

 

He did as he was told, though, wanting  _ less  _ to upset the man he loved. He passed the time laying on the couch and checking his phone for celebratory messages and meme worthy expressions, and his mother sending him a baby picture to remind him whose son he was. That no matter what, he’d always be that curious five year old to her. Eventually, he ran out of things to reply to and picked up one of the time wasting adventure apps until his stomach growled. 

 

Jinyoung hadn’t emerged yet, still busy with various blenders and pots knocking against each other, the pans in the cupboard clinking dangerously. Jaebum thought it had all fallen onto the floor with the ruckus they made, but when he called if Jinyoung was still breathing, he deeply sighed to signify he was. 

 

“Are you even cooking dinner food in there?” Jaebum had snaked his way over the arm of the couch to stretch and crack his back. He knew it was a terrible way to do it, and not good to really do it at all on a regular basis, but it made him feel better. 

 

“ _ Dessert _ ,” Jinyoung answered, slow and frustrated. And the oven door was nearly slammed shut. But when he finally appeared in the living room, he had a tray with bowls of seaweed soup and had a white powder all over his shirt and face. 

 

Jaebum just looked at him, puzzled. “So, let me get this straight.” 

 

Jinyoung was so clearly pleading for Jaebum to  _ not  _ say what he was about to. 

 

“I get your homemade seaweed soup, and then  _ you’re  _ the dessert?” 

 

Jinyoung put the tray down on the coffee table in front of the couch, and kept walking until the bedroom door closed. Jaebum sat up and counted down from five in his head. Jinyoung liked having a clean bed far more than he liked keeping his pride and ignoring Jaebum on his  _ birthday _ . 

 

Once he reached zero, the knob clicked open. “Don’t disrespect desserts like that.” Jinyoung was in a new shirt and most of the powder was wiped off. He did his best to steel his expression before sitting next to Jaebum, but it cracked as soon as Jaebum pet his hair. 

“It’s a compliment and you  _ know  _ it.” Jaebum smirked. “Besides,” he shrugged and leaned towards his boyfriend, “you’re my dessert every night.” He pulled back and laughed at the same time Jinyoung squawked and blushed, moving to sit on the floor to eat. But he knew it wasn’t meant as a tease; it was simply a fact at this point. 

 

They did enjoy the soup, Jinyoung recovering quick enough to start throwing jabs at Jaebum, trying to slander his “good name”. Mostly it was over Christmas and how he just tossed all the wrapping paper into a  _ garbage  _ bag, even though it was clearly made out of a recyclable paper and didn’t have the wax coating. He apparently didn’t care about the environment. At all. Jinyoung rambled on about the whales and birds dying in landfills, and how it could even effect alley and stray cats. 

 

Nora perked up at that and jumped off the couch and settled beside Jinyoung’s leg on the floor. 

 

“Wow, you really did ruin me. My own cat hates me now.” 

 

“You have two more, hyung. Don’t be mad.” Jinyoung softly pet her and she quickly went back to sleep. Odd and Kunta had avoided choosing a side and kept to their cat tower in the corner by the sliding door, where their Christmas tree had been. 

 

Jaebum wasn’t  _ mad _ , but there was a certain type of hurt and disappointment that came from having his first pet walk out on him to start a new, wonderful, cuddling life with his boyfriend under the same roof. On his birthday! Even for Jinyoung, that was a low blow. 

 

Now he’d have to pack his things. Leave his job. Quit the rest of his schooling. Begin again somewhere else where the name Jinyoung didn’t exist and he’d never see the same type of cats ever again. Maybe he could try owning a poodle he said he wanted when he was twelve. He’d live on a grungy street in shady apartments made of brick and connected to a decomposing strip mall, consisting only of an overpriced convenience store, cigar and liquor shop, and probably an extremely skeezy adult shop. 

 

His life had to be dusty from now on. 

 

Jaebum sighed dramatically and flopped his head down onto the other couch cushion, hands nestled between his thighs. 

 

“Dear bullet diary, January 6th is no longer my birthday. It’s the day I was betrayed and chased out of my own house because the soulmate I thought I loved turned out to be a  _ homewrecker _ .” 

 

Jinyoung threw one of Jaebum’s sandals and it bounced off his hip. 

 

“I’m a dead man, and yet, he continues to bully me.” 

 

Jinyoung set his empty bowl down.  _ Hard _ , rattling the spoon inside it. He walked around the coffee table and gingerly sat on the edge of the couch in front of Jaebum. “Being dramatic is  _ my  _ thing.”

 

“Did I mention he stole my cat? He fed her  _ lies  _ and--” 

 

“ _ Okay _ ! I get it!” Jinyoung surrendered. “You don’t  _ hate  _ the environment, hyung. You don’t do things that lead to the deaths of stray cats. And,” he breathed deep, “I fixed the wrapping paper, anyway.” He rubbed Jaebum’s hip where the sandal hit, and glanced over at Nora who had one eye open, observing their petty quarrel. “He’s good, Nora. Sorry I brought you into it.” 

 

Nora seemed to scoff and she joined the others on the cat tower, curling up on the bottom level. 

 

Jaebum untrapped his hands and softly entwined one with Jinyoung’s, heart suddenly caught in his chest. Their circumstances were still the wildest tale, a dream or fantasy world he couldn’t quite believe, but at the end of the day, they existed in this life. Both human. They were the best and worst of each other, knew exactly the type of playful jokes fo crack and run with until one of them realized just how intense their feelings were. 

 

Sometimes that ended up in taking a bath together until their fingers wrinkled and their skin smelled like the bath bomb for weeks to come. Other times, it was them trying to meld into one person against the wall and fumbling their way to the bedroom while stripping off their clothes. Rarer, they ended in silence. Just like this. Holding their hearts in their entangled hands and letting the quiet speak the words for them. 

 

Jaebum pulled himself up and knocked shoulders with Jinyoung. “Your, um...seaweed?” He cleared his throat and willed his face to stop heating up. “Yeah, it was good. The soup.” 

 

Jinyoung’s eyes were wide for a second, and then he broke into a fit, covering his mouth as he laughed and leaned further into Jaebum. 

 

He couldn’t help but laugh, too. 

 

~*~

 

At some point, the timer on the oven beeped and Jinyoung left to check it. There was a bit of growling and yelling, and a pan clunking against the stovetop. Jaebum just listened to cupboards and drawers opening and closing. He tried to make out the soft, angry mutters of his boyfriend, but he couldn’t understand anything and just accepted part of his apartment being destroyed. 

 

Even Kunta got up to wander into the kitchen, and came back to stare and whimper at Jaebum until he resigned to upsetting Jinyoung by going in to help. “Jinyoungie, are you sure--” 

He didn’t need to ask if he was alright, because none of it was alright. Obviously, his dessert was a pie and the pie seemed just fine, surprisingly. But, it was the abandoned can of whip cream rolling around on the floor that worried him, and how the hell it managed to get on Jinyoung’s cheeks and in his  _ hair _ . 

 

Jaebum kind of wanted to be mad, or worried, but at this point, he just didn’t have it in him anymore to be shocked by whatever accidents happened from cat tendencies. He had only given his cats whip cream twice, in very small amounts and off the end of his straw, and this situation resembled the end result exactly. 

 

He hid his smile and took small steps forward. “What’re you bathing in whip cream for?” It was more rhetorical, and he didn’t get any answer. Jinyoung was just frozen, his brown eyes wide and shiny; pitiful, really. Jaebum definitely did not, in the very least, coo or whine over how hopelessly adorable the younger was. He grabbed the towel hanging from the oven handle and gently wiped the whip from his hair. 

 

“What am I ever gonna do with you, Jinyoungie?” He didn’t mean to say it aloud. 

 

Jinyoung pouted his lips and puffed his cheeks a bit, probably disappointed with himself. “Sorry, hyung.” He tugged at the fabric of Jaebum’s shirt instead of his own, pleading for him to understand the situation. “I’ve done this before, I swear! It doesn’t always go like this,” he met Jaebum’s gaze, but quickly glanced away. “It was just stubborn this time, and my head itched and…” 

 

They’d probably take a shower anyway, but as far as Jaebum could tell, there wasn’t anything left in his hair. “Jinyoung-ah,” he said while he folded the towel and placed it on the counter, “it’s really okay.” His curved over Jinyoung’s shoulders, and he didn’t shy away from his eyes at all. Now it was  _ his  _ turn to plead Jinyoung to understand. “You’re you, and you do weird cat things and make whip cream messes, but I wouldn’t change it. Everyone has their weird things.” 

 

He booped Jinyoung’s nose to get the whip cream off, and popped his finger into his mouth instead of wiping it off. “I’ve just adapted to yours.” 

 

Jinyoung softly nodded. He sighed and his pouting disappeared. He turned his head side to side and asked, “Is there any more?” 

 

Jaebum smiled and shook his head. This boy really was entirely hopeless, and he was  _ his  _ hopeless case. “Just hold still.” 

 

There really was no use in wasting perfectly good whip cream, so Jaebum leaned in and licked it off his cheek, pulling away to find all the tiny splatters. Jinyoung was smiling and blushing, his whiskers appearing by his eyes. And when Jaebum went to clean the other cheek, Jinyoung grabbed onto his arms and giggled, a sound that rang so clear and beautiful, as if it was music itself. “Feels  _ weird _ ,” he laughed. “Kinda tickles.” 

 

Jaebum held Jinyoung’s chin when he stopped, turning his head to make sure there was nothing else. “As if it never happened.” He poked Jinyoung’s nose just for fun, and grinned back at him. 

 

Jinyoung surged forward and wrapped his arms around Jaebum’s shoulders, kissing him full and lovingly, with the care of when silence whispered all their secrets, and the only thing they wanted to do was hold each other. Exist in each other’s arms until everything else fell away. His heart beat wildly, hands on Jinyoung’s hips, even after he pulled away. 

 

“Happy birthday, hyung,” Jinyoung barely whispered against Jaebum’s lips. He eskimo kissed him before going back to the pie on the counter, keeping one hand on Jaebum’s wrist. “So, um, I made this apple pie since you didn’t want to go out and buy a cake, but we had apples.” He rummaged in one of the drawers of random items and found the box of candles. 

 

At least the whip had made it onto the slices of pie they were meant to eat, and Jinyoung stuck the candle there, lighting it without a problem. “Make a wish?” He shrugged lightly. 

 

Jaebum moved and held Jinyoung’s waist so they’d be closer. He leaned their heads together, closed his eyes and wished. There wasn’t a single thing he could focus on, knowing now what it meant to be greedy. He wanted to find a happiness to believe in, and for Jinyoung to be part of that for however long he was meant to. He wanted good health for those he cared about, and for his cats to live longer than the average lifespan. 

 

And, a part of him wished to remember how he had changed Jinyoung’s life when he was a cat. To know exactly how the story played out, within his own mind and soul. But perhaps it wasn’t something for him to remember at all. And as long as he had Jinyoung by his side, it would be more than enough to make up for that. 

 

Jaebum blew out the candles and opened his eyes. 

 

~*~

 

They had showered after eating the delicious apple pie, and waited for their hair to fully dry before laying on the pillows. Now, neither were really asleep, even though Jinyoung was trying to persuade Jaebum that he was. His audible rhythm betrayed him the most, and it was blatantly obvious his breathing was not slow and steady with sleep. 

 

Jaebum bore a hole into the ceiling. He fidgeted with a small box in the dark, rolling his thoughts over and over again. But playing out a conversation or a question or the future in his head wasn’t anything compared to what reality would give him. 

So, he rolled over and faced Jinyoung, their hands brushing in the middle. Jinyoung slowly blinked his eyes open, and shadows seemed to fade away. The world surrounding them dissipated as if it were only game codes or a background on a drawing; easily erased but not forgotten to the creators. Jaebum knew it was still there, but it had no bearing on this particular moment. 

 

He willed his blood to stop pounding in his ears, and for the silence to not be so deafening. But nothing listened to him. 

 

He leaped into them, instead. 

 

“Marry me,” he whispered into the night. At Jinyoung, and the memory of how his eyes shone amber in the sunlight, of the first time he booped his nose when they were strangers on a train. How even when he was in the deepest end of a bad day or a bad week, Jinyoung’s smile and his laugh were enough to raise him to the surface; to feel warm again. 

 

He panicked a little when Jinyoung refused to answer. “Or do a promise thing. We’re building our lives and maybe we don’t have a wedding until ten years from now, but…” He gently rubbed his thumb over the back of Jinyoung’s hand. “There is no one else ten years from now.” 

 

He couldn’t even hear Jinyoung’s breathing now. He merely blinked, processing it in his own head. And then he said, “But, it’s your  _ birthday _ .” 

 

Honestly, that was not the thing Jaebum expected to hear. That the man he just asked to marry was only hesitating because it was his birthday. Jaebum twisted around until he located his phone and he pulled it off the charger, returning to his position and clicked the home button to light up the time. He waited a few seconds, and then showed the lit screen to Jinyoung. “Just turned midnight. It’s the day  _ after  _ my birthday.” He shoved his phone under the pillow. 

 

“You’re really asking? You want me to marry you?” 

 

“Or a promise thing, yeah. Dead serious.” 

 

Jinyoung brought the small box closer. He laced their fingers together. “We can do the marriage thing,” he answered quietly. He let Jinyoung do the honors of sliding the silver band onto his ring finger, and he did the same for Jinyoung. 

 

Jaebum tossed the box across the room, not really caring where it ended up because Jinyoung closed the distance between them, intent on murdering Jaebum with only his lips and the barest touch of fingertips over his skin. It was kind and tender, breaking Jaebum apart from the inside and he couldn’t stand it anymore. 

 

He stopped to catch his breath and leaned his forehead against Jinyoung’s, threading his hand into his hair. “I love you,” he confessed. As if he hadn’t already, but it was  _ different _ this time. Heavier and with the promise of forever nuanced inside of those three words. It meant that he’d still love Jinyoung, even if he chose to leave him, or in death, and even  _ after  _ death. He’d not be likely to meet him again in the next life if it truly was his ninth and final life, but Jaebum would be sure never to forget this man he loved so much once before. Jinyoung was the first one, the one he’d always be comparing others to because he couldn’t help it. 

 

Jinyoung must have been wandering the same path, a tear falling down his cheek and Jaebum wiped it away. “I love you, too, hyung.” 

 

And somewhere in it all there was humor to make Jaebum laugh at hard he had fallen, and Jinyoung giggling at his own emotional crying because he never thought he would cry over his own proposal. Jaebum kissed his forehead and the corner of his eyes. He caressed his cheeks and committed this moment, every detail of it, to his memory. He tattooed it onto his soul and swore to never remove it. 

 

The world would forget it, but he never would. No matter how many lives he lived.  

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> so here we are. the fourth and probably final part of this series. my chingu A who came up with this idea likes things in fours if only three existed before anyway and i found this out when she was enraged by the trollhunters forge door only having 3 mechanism things before it opened. so it seems a good place to stop for now since school and i'm writing witch au which is. a major beast. 
> 
> the whip cream thing is quite real and it is perfectly fine! when i get overpriced and oversugared "coffees" that have whip cream on top i'll make sure there's no 'coffee" on the straw and just pick some whip up on the end and let them lick it off. one of them is pretty clean about it but the other one just. she literally gets it flicked onto her /ears/ sometimes it's hella funny. nose. whiskers. fur on her head. it's truly amazing.
> 
> i hope this series was fun for you all!!! thanks for the support i got with it and if i get breaks i'll try to write maybe snippets of other things adhad so thanks to A and Screaming Anon for this final bday part. And go support the absolute weirdest leader in existence. i love him. a lot. and honestly the masternims putting bday support money into animal charities in his name are saving my L i f e. 
> 
> [yt voice] as always kudos or leave comments if you like, or you can scream at me on [the twt](https://twitter.com/pinkichor) or [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/pinkichor) and thanks for reading!!


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